Seahawks vs. Broncos: Defensive grades for Seattle

The Seahawks defense had some very good plays in Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Broncos. Unfortunately, there were a lot of bad plays too. Here are the grades.

The Seahawks started two rookies on defense against the Denver Broncos. Cornerback Tre Flowers had some solid statistics but simply wasn’t ready to be a start week one. Shaquem Griffin wasn’t able to deliver the impact some had hoped either.

Seattle safeties were fantastic, though. Here are the grades for a very mixed performance for Seattle.

Defensive line

Seattle had very little of a pass rush on Sunday. This was a concern going into the season and will be a concern moving forward. Denver quarterback Case Keenum simply had time to sit back and dissect Seattle’s pass defense. Frank Clark did have Seattle’s only sack, though.

To start the game, the interior lineman, especially Tom Johnson, did a good job of stopping the Broncos from running the ball. But as the game developed, it seemed clear that Johnson, Jarran Reed and others wore down. Seattle started the game without inactives Poona Ford and Nazair Jones. The Seahawks simply got tired and Denver finished with 146 yards rushing on 32 attempts.

Grade: C

Linebackers

Seattle had to play without K.J. Wright and Griffin simply showed he wasn’t as good as Wright currently. The Seahawks eventually brought Griffin in only for third downs and Austin Calitro played the other downs. Wright’s absence hurt the overall defense, though.

Bobby Wagner was fantastic as always, however. Wagner finished with five tackles including one for loss.

Grade: C

Secondary

I should almost break this down into safeties and corners. Earl Thomas and Bradley McDougald were really good. Thomas had an interception and McDougald had two and should have had three. Thomas and McDougald also each had five tackles.

The corners, however, were an issue. According to Pro Football Focus, Justin Coleman and Shaquill Griffin were mediocre. And Tre Flowers was just bad. Emmanuel Flowers, in fact, had 10 straight passes completed to him against Flowers. Or mostly against Flowers. While Flowers did lead the team in tackles with eight, that was because he had to be consistently tackling the receiver he was covering after they caught the ball.

Flowers wasn’t ready to start week one. Which is a shame because he will probably be expected to start for the foreseeable future.

Seattle’s lack of pass rush didn’t help the corners, though.

Grade: C-